GOFFSTOWN - Sara Ann Sarette, a longtime member of the Goffstown School Board who was involved in the expansion of the school system, resigned earlier this month, citing personal reasons. “I liked being on the School Board,” said Sarette, 73. “It’s time to let some of the younger ones be on.”

Sarette, whose service spanned three decades, said her husband, John, a similar fixture of the Board of Selectmen, died four years ago. She said there were “things in her life” that she had to move on to.

Sarette was on the board from 1982-93 and again from March 2002 until last month, according to Chairman Keith Allard. During her tenure, the school district build a kindergarten, expanded the high school, improved its middle school facility and is now doing an addition to the Bartlett Elementary School.

She is especially proud of the new kindergarten. “I’m quite happy, and now my grandchildren are going to that school,” Sarette said. Sarette has lived with her family in Goffstown for 50 years. All eight of her children went through the public school system, and one, her daughter Beverly Sarette, is now a teacher at Maple Avenue.

For years, her husband also ran the Exxon gas station in town.

“My husband loved the town too,” she said. “It’s been an interesting life.”

Sarette said she had some personal matters to sort out and was planning to travel to the West Coast and elsewhere in the country, visiting family. She was fairly certain she would not come back for a third stretch on the School Board, but did not entirely rule it out as a possibility. “There’s never a never in life,” she said.

She resigned on Sept. 17, and the School Board accepted her letter on Sept. 22.

“While the Goffstown School Board will certainly miss the wisdom and input Sara provided, we certainly respect her desire to focus on personal issues and spend time with her family,” Allard said. “Community service and dedication to community certainly runs in her family. The residents of Goffstown have been blessed by their commitment to serving.”

The School Board had three options for filling the vacancy: make an appointment on its own, hold a special election or leave it open until the March election. The board has chosen to do the first and is expected to sort through applications at its next meeting. The appointment would last until the March election. The term would be from Oct. 20 to March 10, 2009. In March, a new School Board member will be chosen through the annual election.

The official deadline for applications is today, Oct. 2. For more information, visit www.goffstown.k12.nh.us or call the school district office at 497- 4818.